commissionedvscommissionsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: commissioned is a adjective, commissions is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“commissioned” is an adjective and “commissions” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,545
“commissioned” frequency rank
#9,303
“commissions” frequency rank
16848
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature commissioned commissions
Definition Holding a commission; officially appointed. plural of commission

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set commissioned and commissions apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

12 ch
commissioned
11 ch
commissions

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

commissioned and commissions form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

commissioned is recorded at frequency rank #7,545, classified as anadj, pronounced /kəˈmɪʃənd/. commissions is at rank #9,303, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kəˈmɪʃənz/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 16848, this pair ranks #455,218 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

commissioned#7,545
commissions#9,303

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "commissioned" and "commissions" be used interchangeably?
No, "commissioned" and "commissions" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering commissioned vs commissions

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “commissioned”; for a noun, it's “commissions”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “commissioned” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list